Tuesday, January 27, 2009

NaBloPoMo is hard, it always seems easy when you say "sure that sounds like fun", but it's not easy (and periodically it's not even fun). And as the end of the month nears the search of blog fodder becomes more and more desperate. Happily my girlie KimmyK has come to the rescue today!

Kimmy's given me questions before, and they were fun - so let's hope these are as much fun and the last time (maybe they'll be funnier?)

1) What's the one article of clothing you can't live without?Huh, well if it's a specific item I'd have to say my bra, but not just a regular old bra - it has to be one of the Victoria's Secret Very Sexy bras. They're awesome, little push up and a bit of padding (to reduce embarrassing chilly situations). Sure they rename the stupid thing every couple of months so I have to go out and buy a new one thinking it's something different - but all in all it's something I can't live without.

2) What's the one thing your husband does that gets on your nerves?Does breathing count? 'Cause sometimes... I kid, really.

Probably the whole not listening thing. It kills me how many times I have to tell him stuff and how much time I spend repeating myself. Every once and a while he surprises me and hears me, but most of the time I think I could just record myself and then take off on vacation (hey, come to think of it, I should probably do that before I leave).

3) What's your own worst habit?I don't have any, silly! Um, this is actually hard - I'm sure that Scott would have a list for you. If it's a grooming habit, I'd say that I pick at pimples too much, I'm probably lucky that I don't have more scaring from messing with them. I'm sure I have others, but let's go with that one.

4) Perfect Sunday afternoon-what is it? Where are you, who you with, and whatcha doin?I think that it would be at our friends beach, hanging around in the sun, swimming, cooking dinner and enjoying it all together. Scott, our friends, their kids - our local family. Simple, easy, fun - all good things.

5) What's your weirdest obsession?That's kind of a moving target - my Dad and I always sort of felt like we both have (well he had) adult hobby ADD. Every time I take up a hobby I really take it up. So right now it's facebook and my photo of the day. In times past it's been blogging or twitter, cross-stitching or quilting or painting (I went through a strange thing where I spent a lot of time painting picture frames and lamps - if it wasn't nailed down or moving I painted it).

I've gotta say, these were harder than the last ones I think - or maybe it's that my brain is running on fumes right now (I really need to get some sleep).

And with any good game there are rules so if you'd like to play along, just follow these instructions:1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. (please make sure I have your email cause that helps when trying to actually email someone)3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be sure you link back to the original post.4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

Monday, January 26, 2009

I'm making a list and checking it twice! Maybe I'm overly anxious for this trip to LA, or maybe I just need to get out of town for a bit - I'm guessing there are actually plenty of answers. But the closer I get to leaving, the longer my to do list gets...

1. pack2. laundry3. get suitcase out of attic (get second suitcase out, in case I over pack)4. do toes and nails5. shave (hey it's winter and I'm married, so?)6. buy cat food so that they don't starve7. figure out what to pack (I guess that should come before pack)8. get bangs fixed (still not totally sure about this one)9. go buy travel sized everything10. book shuttles to and from airport in LA11. clear up the tivo, so I can tape a bunch more stuff12. go to the market to buy Scott all the frozen food that he'll need to survive13. continue with the 100 crunches a day, tan in a can and teeth whitening so that I don't look like a mid-winter midwesterner (again why didn't anyone tell me that you gain at least 5 pounds over winter that you've got to take off before beach season - so unfair)

I think that's it for now, but I'm sure it will get longer before it gets shorter.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Why did you have to call me yesterday to ask such and inane and condescending question? What is it that makes you think that I don't do my job correctly and that you need to call me on my day off to ask me about it? Thanks for calling and making me so mad that I screamed at the top of my lungs in frustration - upsetting my cats, dog and husband. Thank you for making me so mad that I have stewed on it all weekend.

I have worked for you for three and a half years and I have sold a lot for your business, I've made you a lot of money. And yet, somehow you've now decided that I can't do my job. Just because the economy is bad does not mean that I am not doing my job, perhaps people are just not buying they way they used to.

Do you think that I am secretly telling them to buy elsewhere? That I am sabotaging your business? I ask you, what good would that do me?

But you call on a Saturday, asking why I didn't get back to some one and do I have the email to prove that I sent the files. The answer is this I didn't get back to the person because I ran out of time this week, because you were out of the office all week and I had to do your job and my job. The answer is that your wife told me specifically not to work any over time this month, and so I would have gotten in trouble with her if I had stayed the extra couple of minutes to make the call. And as for the email question, if you knew a computer from your a**hole you'd know how to set up my email so it went through the database system and tracked it all.

What have I done to make you not trust me? I've trusted you all this time, trusted you when you said that you would give me a raise (but you didn't), trusted you when you said you would pay my commission on certain sales (but you didn't). I've worked on Saturdays and evenings, I've answered calls on vacation, while I was home in California grieving with my family and if I recall correctly (the day was rather hazy) you called looking for a file a few hours after I had called to tell you that my Dad had died. I've given more than my all for you and you've treated me like crap.

I used to love my job, I loved working for you guys. Now I just want a way out.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Actually I heard a woman on NPR talk about how she blogged and she and her husband kept in touch that way when he was traveling. And it's not that Scott travels and he certainly doesn't blog, but I went and read her blog and I realized that it wasn't just wackos that blogged - normal people wrote about every day things. And I figured why not?

2. What was one your favorite movies in the past year and why? You can pick a movie from the theater or DVD.I really didn't see a lot of new movies this year. I guess I'd have to say Sex In The City - it was fun and funny, and I left smiling. I also saw Twilight (I know, just don't hold it against me), it was good, but not as good as it needed to be.

3. If there was a fire and you could only take five things (not including pets and important papers), what would they be?As long as the cats, dog, papers and hubby are good (wow, did I put Scott at the bottom of that list - that's probably bad) then the list would be as follows.

1. The Photo Albums2. The Laptop (it's got all the recent, non-scrapbooked photos)3. Mutt-Mutt LeMutt, yeah - my favorite stuffed animal. I've had him since I was ten, he sits by my bed every night, and some days - those really bad days I still sleep with him. One day I'll introduce you all to one of my oldest and dearest friends.4. Our Antique Maps, we have a nice collection of antique maps - I'd do my best to grab as many of them as possible. Not just because they are expensive, but because a fair number of them were purchased on trips like our honeymoon or other vacations.5. And two little figurines from my grandparents, they sit next to one another - a bronze bell from Brazil (that kind of looks like Carmine Miranda) and a reproduction of The Kiss by Rodin.

Crap - I just realized, would my purse be included in the "important papers"? If not, that's gotta bump something since that pretty much always has my keys, cell phone and digital camera - things I'm thinking I would need a lot right after a fire (well maybe not the house keys).

4. Name one goal you have set for the next year. You can pick your easiest or lamest one if you want.Have a better year - that's my one and only goal. 2008 was such crap, I want 2009 to be better, it doesn't have to be a lot better - just not as sucktastic as 2008. It doesn't seem like a huge goal, but it's a big one for me.

5. What is your favorite TV show and least favorite?Many of my favorite TV shows have been bugging me, so I guess I'd say that the show that is annoying me the least is re-runs of The West Wing and my least favorite is... well, everything else.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Seriously scraping the bottom of the barrel here... apparently my life is really boring (well, except for the flood, the car on the river, and maybe a few other things). So here's a bunch of randomness for you - 'cause it's all I got.

* I am incredibly tired of medical shows about transplants. Every now and then there's a transplant episode, and it gets me every time. Damn transplants, damn broken organs, damn TV. (And don't even get me started on all the dead dads on TV lately!)

* My Mom called to let me know that the "final resting place" that we chose for my Dad had to be moved across the "garden". It's no big thing, but it's just sort of surreal to be at work, talking to your Mom about the merits of his ashes being on the sunny side vs. the shady side of a garden filled with lots of other people's ashes. I suppose I should care, we're getting the "family plan" - Scott and I will be there one day.

* The car is still in river, only the front half, but now the river is freezing around it and I have no idea when or how they are going to get it out. Worse yet, since Scott was the one to call emergency services he ended up getting a bunch of calls from the Sheriff, the humane society (the idiot was on the river chasing after his dog) and the news paper. Somehow we've become a side show in this red-neck drama.

* Back to the bra shopping - what I really need is a bra that moves the back fat forward. Why didn't anyone tell me that some time after thirty, no matter how thin you are, back fat happens? How is it that my ass began growing up my back at the same time that it starts falling down? And is there a bra that can fix it?!

* I went to a meeting of the local photo club tonight - I'm not sure if I'm going to keep at it. The people were nice, but I'm not sure if my photos are up to snuff. It's not a big time commitment, and it might be fun. I really love how my perspective on things has changed since I've started taking a picture a day - I look at the world a little differently, and maybe this club will continue to foster that.

* And three years ago today we adopted a cute little ball of Tortoiseshell fluff - and right now she's doing a great job of keeping my neck warm and probably helping me keep my hold on the little patch of sanity that I can still lay claim to.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Yeah, big, big day here - I woke up this morning, knowing that it was going to be great, but wow. I was floored.

I mean how many times in your life are you going to see some dumb-a** redneck drive a car down a frozen river and then watch that car stall and sink - all in your own back yard? Really, an historic event (if by historic you mean it only happens once or twice a year).

Oh and there was an awesome inauguration in Washington, but you know for me it was all about the car in in the river.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Do you watch Coupling (if not, really you should be - but not the American version, the real one)? There's this scene in one of the episodes where all the girls (Susan, Sally and Jane) are talking about who was in each others speed dial. The best part comes when one of the girls asks Jane who her number one speed dial was and she said "I don't know, I haven't met them yet".

It got me thinking about my speed dial situation. Number one is voice mail - which annoys me, I'm a gown up (mostly) and I think that I can decide who my number one is. Number two is Scott and number three is my sister. But really, even with the Verizon enforced number one selection, those first three really are my most dialed numbers.

Here's the problem. I haven't taken my Dad off of my speed dial - he's number four (heck some days I called him more than Scott and my sister combined - which means I probably should have mad him number 5, since 2+3=5). Somehow I can't manage to take it off. I know that if I should accidentally click on the number it's not going to go anywhere. I know that it's going to bring up a picture of him on the screen, and probably make me cry - but I really can't manage to take him off my phone.

Part of me thinks it's ok to leave it - my brain knows not to dial 4 (most of the time), it knows that other keys lead to the people that I can actually talk to. And what if I change it and start dialing all the wrong people - think I'm call up my sister at midnight here/9pm there and accidentally call my boss? It could be speed dial anarchy - and no one wants that.

But then I think, maybe it's time for a change, shake things up a bit - maybe bump Scott down a number or two, perhaps I should put my good friend that I never call enough higher up. And maybe I should leave a few open, what I haven't met my number one or at least my new number four?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Why is it that at some point (I'm guessing that it's somewhere around puberty - sooner for some, perhaps a bit later for others) we are no longer allowed to stamp our feet and have a big old temper tantrum? I would really like to just throw a big old fit, not every day - just every once and a while. Is it so wrong to not want do something, and just every once and a while say it really emphatically?

Since I'm not allowed to I think I'll just do it here...

I really don't want to go to work tomorrow. I don't want to clean the house. I don't want to shovel all the snow. I don't want to go grocery shopping. I don't want to talk to anyone on the phone or deal with pain in the neck clients or my bosses. I want to sit on my butt and do absolutely nothing - for a good long while. And I want everyone to get over it and leave me alone!

Ok, thanks, I'm feeling a bit better now. Maybe we should do this again sometime.

Current Music: A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley

p.s. I'm not going to apologize for not posting yesterday, I figured that I've already messed up the NaBloPoMo thing - so one more day off isn't going to kill me. And you know, I didn't feel like it - so there.

Friday, January 16, 2009

I have found my new spiritual path - I really see this working for me. Here's the general premise:

"It is the perfect western expression of the eastern ideas of letting go, giving up and finding real freedom by realising that things don’t matter so much (if at all)."

An amazing man named John C. Parkin came up with it, I think it's clarity and ease really speaks for it's self. It is "The Fuck It Way" - it is now my way. If you want to follow the way, you can get the book, or join the facebook group, or of course sign up to be a "Fuckiteer".

My life is now complete - all I have to do is say "Fuck It"!

Current Music: Fuck Me Pumps - Amy Winehouse

(You know what I love most, is that I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP - this is real!)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Really, it's a bit sad - you'd think that after a craptastic day at the office, sub-zero temperatures, super fun bra shopping (please be sure to read the sarcasm here), falling in the snow on the way down the driveway and everything in between that I'd have tons to talk about. But you'd be wrong, you just got it all, just now, right there.

So, for lack of anything else, here's some photographic proof of the fact that it's really freakin' cold here right now (well, this morning)...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Right, so many of you know about my bad bangs. If you're new to the Mandy Lou show and you need to know more about the bad bangs saga, you can find more here, here and here, oh and here - apparently I am that shallow.

Yet again I got them cut, because I am not only shallow, I am dumb - and this time it was really, really bad. So I tried to fix them and, well, let's just say that I didn't make them any better. Now they are freakishly spiky and blunt at the same time - how does that happen? Oh, right, you cut your own bangs, that's how.

What's the point you ask? The point is this, in just over two weeks I have to be perfect. I have to be amazing. I need to look H-O-T, hot. In just over two weeks I am going to a mini college reunion - I'm seeing old college roommates, one and possibly two exes.

Here's what they looked like on New Years (good times, bad bangs).

Now tell me, if the hair needs to be perfect and the bangs are currently pretty damn bad. Do I get them trimmed? Or should I let them grow out as much as possible in the next two weeks?

Who knew that three inches of hair on the front of my head could cause so much drama (on the up side, they apparently give me lots of opportunity to blog)!?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

And now we've reached the point of NaBloPoMo where I start to run out of things to say - which really is saying something 'cause I've got a lot of random crap rolling around up in my cranium (see and I like to pull out the big words from time to time too, keep y'all on your toes).

So today, we'll go with a list of things that I'm currently addicted to:- Re-runs of the West Wing- Diet Coke, all right that's not new, really it's just an ongoing love affair- Mafia Wars on Facebook- My Burt's Bees lip balm- Let's be real, I'm addicted to Facebook too- Going to PetSmart to look at the kittens (they're just so cute, it makes me happy)- Watching the thermometer drop, but addicted in a bad way - this weather is killing me- Messing with my cuticles, they are in a bad way and I'm not making it any better- My fuzzy socks, I get home and those bad boys go on- Staying up way too late writing blog posts - so I should probably end with this one and, you know, go to bed.

This isn't nearly as fun as the favorite things list, but it's going to have to do - and feel free to chime in!

Monday, January 12, 2009

You know that song by the Talking Heads, the one that goes "And you may tell yourself, This is not my beautiful wife!" - that's where I am lately (only it's my husband). Somehow my husband has been stolen and replaced with a new and improved model - and it's kind of freaking me out.

A few examples:- On the way home Scott called and said "hey, I know you've had a long day - why don't you stop and pick up pizza so that you don't have to cook. That way you can relax when you get home."

- Yesterday he cleared all the snow off the deck for me without asking.

- As part of the new and improved post-flood basement we added a wall between the "family" room and the laundry room. But he actually took the time to add a light switch for the laundry room so that I wouldn't have to walk into the dark room to get to the old switch.

- When I got home tonight, instead of finding him with his feet up reading the paper, I found him tiling the basement floor and mudding the new wall - and doing the laundry (I swear I am not lying).

- Saturday we got through all of the carpet buying and installing and furniture moving without a single fight.

Yeah - so either aliens have come to earth and stolen my hubs or he's about to do something really bad, not sure which one just yet.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

The other day I was standing in Target, and some ladies were talking in line in front of me. The one lady said to the other, "yeah, there's nothing as good as that". Now I can't remember exactly what they were talking about, but I remember thinking, 'really, that's the best you can do?'.

Today I had a great time playing with the pup out in the snow, just running around and tossing snowballs (she loves that). So that got me thinking, what do I think is better than that (whatever it was)?

Popping off your bra at the end of a long day.Snuggling under a down blanket on a cool night.A nice cold beer on a hot summer day.Playing hooky from work and goofing off for an afternoon.Clean sheets on the bed after a shower.Grabbing the dog and a ball and playing around in yard.Sleeping in.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Our house is small, some might say cozy - not crazy small, but it's not much more than 1100 square feet. When we moved into the house we "finished" part of the basement to give our selves a bit more room. But, all in all, it's a fine sized house for two people.

When we finished off the basement we figured it would be a "family room", a bigger gathering space, a spot to watch movies and sports (the big TV is down there). But it turned into Scott's man cave, his place away from me. So I am left with the living room, which is just fine - it has the better lighting, the fire place, the comfy chairs and a way better view.

Generally each evening, after dinner, Scott goes downstairs and watches TV or plays his video games. Sometimes I hate that he goes down there at all (as opposed to spending time with me) and other times he can't get down there fast enough for me. Mostly it works out just fine, we each have our own spaces to retreat to and we're happy.

And then the basement flooded.

For almost two weeks I've been sharing my space. At first it wasn't bad, we watched shows that we both liked and had fun hanging out together. But it didn't take too long for it to get annoying. Not being able to watch the shows I wanted to watch, or listen to music because he was watching TV. Most nights I would feel more stressed before going to bed, because I hadn't had time to unwind the way I'm used to.

I suppose I should be saying "please don't think I don't like being with my husband". But the truth is, that at the end of the day I like to sit and eat dinner with him and talk about our days and then we each go our own way and I curl up in my chair, watch TV and goof around on-line.

So today, in an effort to restore marital bliss, we spent the day getting his man cave back in order. New carpet and new wall, and soon a new tile area (where we had the most water). Tomorrow we'll continue, I'll work on getting all the little stuff back in it's spots and Scott will work on the tile floor. For now the furniture is mostly back in place, the TV is hooked up. So Scott is happily ensconced in his man cave and I am sitting blissfully here in my chair by myself.

Friday, January 09, 2009

See you've all been thinking I've abandoned you, that I've given up the cause of NaBloPoMo for January - that I don't want to talk about change. Well you'd be partly right.

I have been writing, just not here.

A while back I started another blog and I've been writing over there the past couple days. They're letters to my Dad - I felt like I still had a lot to say to him, so I say it there. Feel free to comment if you like, or ignore it- it's ok, that one's all about me (oh wait, so is this one).

I've been having a couple of bad Dad days, so it seemed better to write over there for the last little bit. And, in keeping with the theme of change, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to perhaps write on a new blog - see, change. Even though it's a change I would reverse if there was any way I could - to not have that blog or the reason for it would be a wonderful thing.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

So I followed a random link today and found myself reading about this book. It looked interesting, maybe a good way to start the year - you know resolutions and what not. Then I decided to take the quiz.

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and

found out I'm an:

Organized Tree Hugging Extrovert

I'm really not sure how I scored as a tree-hugger (I mean I use fabric bags, but really, tree-hugger?). And organized, really? I think not.

I originally thought I might be interested in buying it, but then I decided (given the totally accurate quiz results) that if I bought it I'd only use it to knock myself out - so that's no good.

Monday, January 05, 2009

I'm going green today, yep, I'm recycling! Yesterday it occurred to me that there are a ton of random un-posted posts, so I wondered if I could pick up where I left off (could I even remember what the heck I was talking about?). The title is the same as it started and here's the text - that I started back on the 28th of October.

What do you do when people find you? How do you avoid it? Should I avoid it? Does it really matter in the scheme of things?

A while back my sister found my blog - not that it's a huge problem, really it was ok for the most part, especially since she seems to have stopped coming by (which is awesome, 'cause now I can talk about her again, I think). But she managed to find me by searching for my photoblog and somehow she ended up here.

The root of this came from my Facebook page. When I set it up, I wasn't thinking and I put my twitter feed on it. Now really, that's not so bad - but then I thought, if some one reads this, then they could get back to my blog and do I really want my real world to know what I write here?

So I deleted the feed, just in case, but it got me thinking about how I've never told anyone about my blog. It really would be simple, and I don't think that most people I know would even bother to read it if they knew about it. And with the exception of Scott and my family, it's very rare that I mention anyone else. I know I've talked about it before, so what's the big deal?

But the more I've thought about it the more I realize that I've taken some measures to protect my privacy here and even on my photoblog. So I guess the real answer is that I really don't want other people finding this blog. And here I always thought that I kept it secret just because I didn't think anyone would be interested :-)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

What's NaBloPoMo called when it's every other day? What ever it is, I think that's what I'm doing. It's actually kind of funny, in my "dash board" there's a draft post and a published post every other day - so it's not for lack of wanting to do it! I had yesterday's post mostly done, then ran off to dinner and forgot to finish it when I got back.

So I guess the question is, am I doing NaBloPoMo or what? Let's go with "what" - I still love the theme of Change, so I really do want to write about that, but let's face it I may not be ready to do an everyday sort of thing! And feel free to give me crap, it's not like it's soooo hard to write a bit every day, even if the carpet is soaking wet and your husband is being an ass about it.

Anyhoo, enough of that nonsense I have something far more important to tell you! I finally got my t-shrit! As you can see, I got it for Christmas, and (as you can also see) I was pretty stoked! My aunt and uncle were completely confused, but you know, they're old and they live out in the burbs - so they don't get it :-)

The rest of Christmas was ok - it was strange (of course), and hard, there were a couple of mini-break downs but really ok. See that little stocking up there behind me? That's where my Dad's stocking used to be - that was a hard thing. But, as with the trip out in September, we tried hard to do lots of family things and create new traditions. It made things easier to start over with certain things then to try and pretend that the old way was still ok.

I'd better get off to bed, I'm so not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow - a week off of work followed by two four day weekends really isn't a good way to get ready to go back to a regular work week. And promise to think about my post for tomorrow (ok, Tuesday-ish).

Friday, January 02, 2009

No really, that's what happened to my post from yesterday, it had nothing to do with the fact that I apparently forgot to hit the post button. I'd go a head an post it except I'm afraid of the the NaBloPoMo police - you never know when they might catch you cheating.

In other news, my New Year's Day was spent as many Americans prefer to spend it - slightly hung-over, watching the Rose Parade and a lot of football. I even went to bed at 9pm (that might have had something to do with being up til 3am the night before) - all things considered it was a restful day, just the way to start the New Year.

Today I spent ALL day cleaning our photos - tossing a bunch of really bad ones, getting other ones sorted for scrapbooking and organizing all the negatives, cds and film cartridges. Even though it really did take me way longer than I had hoped it feels really god to have it done. Of course since I didn't finish my task till late I didn't help Scott with his (ripping up the carpet downstairs), so he pretty much didn't get anything done.

Oh, did I forget to tell you? Our basement flooded. Yep, Sunday night our little river turned into a ginormous river and decided to find it's way into our basement. Happily we were able to get most everything out or up high enough, so all we lost was the carpet. But if it hadn't been for the help of an awesome friend and the young and burly Firemen that came over with tons of sand bags it would have been much worse. Yeah, 2008 ROCKED - so I'm very, very glad to see the back of that year.

Even though I've already failed on the whole NaBloPoMo thing, I am trying for another picture a day this year. I really enjoyed it last year, so I decided to have another go at it - in fact I've recruited my sister, a friend and her daughter (and possibly one other friend). Come to think of it, I need to get a finder's fee or something.

That's enough randomness for now, but just because I goofed up yesterday doesn't mean I won't try to do the rest of the month - just think of it as NaBloPoMo minus one.

Current Music: Blame it on the Bosa Nova - Edie Gorme (hey, I could blame my missed post on that too)